Why You Need a Data Breach Response Plan Before an Attack

It’s inevitable that you’ll eventually face a cyberattack. When a breach happens, it is a chaotic and frightening episode. Missteps are bound to happen and can escalate data loss and recovery costs. You may not have access to contact information or files that reside on your network. Waiting for an attack to happen before devising an incident response plan is very risky. Pre-planning your data breach response is your best chance to recover from a cyberattack quickly and mitigate the exposure and damage caused. Planning a response can also alert you to gaps in cybersecurity.

Q: What is an incident response plan, and why is it important in cybersecurity?

A: It’s a formal, documented strategy that outlines how an organization will detect, respond to and recover from cyber security incidents. It enables a structured and timely response to minimize damage, reduce recovery time and costs, and ensure that systems and data are protected.

What Should a Company Do After a Data Breach?

• Confirm the Breach – Hackers sometimes pretend to be a trusted source, claiming they have just been victims of a cyberattack. This allows them to gain your trust and convince you that you’re also in peril so they can manipulate you into sharing confidential information under the guise of “working together” to solve and recover from the attack. You must stay alert to avoid becoming a victim of this ploy. Don’t automatically accept warning messages as fact
• Alert Your Team to Take Action – Key employees should be assigned a role in the response so they can provide help quickly or take action in your absence
• Assess the Damage – If someone broke into your home, you would want to know how the intruder got in and what was stolen. The same approach applies to cyberattacks. Breaches of company financial data and trade secrets can lead to bankruptcy for small or midsized businesses (SMBs). In the event of a cyberattack, it is imperative to determine the hacker’s entry point, the magnitude of the attack and how to mitigate the damage. Consulting a cyber security professional for a cyber risk analysis can help you take the necessary steps to protect your hard-earned company data.
• Cancel the Cards – If a credit or debit card account has been compromised as part of the breach, canceling the card will generally prevent further financial exposure. It will also initiate a fraud investigation, making your bank or credit institution an ally in figuring out what went wrong. Banks will often refund losses after investigating the attack
• Accept Support from the Source of the Breach – Once you’ve confirmed that an organization warning you of a cyberattack is legitimate, take any help they offer to correct or mitigate the damage. A large banking institution is likely to have more robust resources for dealing with data breaches and will likely be willing to help you resolve security threats as quickly as possible
• Contact Credit Bureaus and Lenders – Credit bureaus put fraud alerts on your accounts and monitor them for suspicious activity. They can also notify you if a hacker tries to open new accounts or take out new loans in your name
• Review Your Financial Accounts – Overlooking notices of late payments, banking overdrafts or letters from the IRS, could cause you to miss early warning signs of a data breach
• Reassess Passwords and Add Multifactor Authentication (MFA) – Any data breach response should start with creating new credentials for all of your password-protected accounts. Efficient password management and strong MFA are essential layers of security. Assume the perpetrator of the hack has compromised everything

Q: What are the main phases of an incident response plan?

A: A plan typically includes six key phases: preparation, identification, containment, eradication, recovery and lessons learned. Preparation focuses on setting up tools, training and procedures. Identification involves detecting and verifying the incident. Containment limits the spread of the attack. Eradication removes the threat from systems. Recovery restores operations and verifies normal function. The lessons phase reviews the incident and updates the plan.

What Are the Key Parts of an Incident Response Plan?

The FTC outlines the central tenets of data breach response and the basics of an incident response plan, including:

• Securing Your Operations – Lock it down. Multiple attacks could take down your business, so make sure the attacks don’t continue
• Engaging Cyber Security Experts – Specialists armed with cyber forensics tools and experience can dive into your system and network to ensure all threats have been neutralized
• Isolating the Access Points – Your team must identify and segregate the breached access points to understand how the hacker gained entry and prevent further attacks
• Fixing the Vulnerabilities – Once the vulnerabilities become clear, your cyber security team can recommend fixes and additional layers of defense required to prevent future data breaches
• Consulting an Attorney – If your business is bound by compliance or privacy laws, you should contact an attorney to ensure everyone’s rights are protected
• Alerting Your Cyber Insurance Carrier – Many policies have strict notification rules and also assist after a breach

Q: What are common challenges businesses face with incident response plans?

A: Companies often struggle to keep their plans current, train staff and manage coordination. Other challenges include underestimating the complexity of cyber threats, lack of automation or proper tools and failure to document and learn from past incidents.

What’s the Best Way to Enact a Cyber Security Incident Response Plan?

What should a company do after a data breach? For one, it should take immediate steps to ensure such an incident never happens again. If you have not yet fallen victim to a cybercrime, you should act now. You might be using some of these protective measures already, but as your business adds new devices, your network surface attack area grows.

IT security firms work with small and midsized businesses to establish cyber security best practices to help make sure that confidential data has the best protection possible. For any business, cyberattacks can have devastating consequences, but a cyber security provider can assess your risks and work with you to lower your exposure. Check in with us if you are in the greater New York City area, or contact a local small business cyber security provider for help creating a response plan.